Hi, I'm an 18 year old student studying computer science, but I hope to progress to the more artistic side of computing when I go to university next year, either 2D or 3D. I've never taken any art lessons, and I've only recently started doodling while at work in a call centre - so I'd really appreciate any advice to improve on my work as I have no idea what I'm doing really.

The following picture is a sketch I've been working on for a little while based on a reference photo of a friend of mine. I guess it probably took me about 6 hours on and off - but I can't maintain a very fast pace while at work!

http://www.retina-designs.com/img/duang_original_small.JPG

After producing this sketch, I felt inspired to delve into the world of digital art - something I'd never even considered before. So 2 days ago I went and bought myself a new Wacom Graphire3 tablet and have been experimenting in Painter since then. Here is the result of about an hours work colouring the previous sketch:

http://www.retina-designs.com/img/duang_oils_small.JPG

As I know nothing about working in Painter, I've decided simply to paint everything onto a single layer mainly using the oils brushes. I found this to work best for me after having already experimented with using watercolours instead. It would be great to hear the best way to go about producing this kind of image from people who actually know what they're talking about. Also any general feedback on what I've got so far would be greatly appreciated! :D

FryGuy982

04-28-2005, 06:23 AM

Considering you spent six hours on the drawing I think it would be an understatement to call it a sketch, but ranting aside it looks pretty good so far. You've already created the illusion of depth. I can't wait till you start on the eyes :D

PSD

04-28-2005, 04:16 PM

as i first saw the picture i thought you were lying somewhere while drawing because it seems a bit distorted on right side. but i guess no one's lying while working in a call center even not in the UK :D .
so i would only say to work on the depth in the drawing . i can't determine exactly if the technique you used is smearing the pencil to get the drawing look more smothe. if so i would suggest to draw slight and thin, fast strokes to create depth. this will help you to improve speed and accuracy.
the colorization looks very good so far.

nice work looking forward to see more

MastahUK

04-28-2005, 09:56 PM

Sketch....drawing...whatever! :P

Thanks a lot for the feedback so far. I know exactly what you mean about something not looking quite right PSD, but my lines seem to match the reference photo fairly accurately. I'm hoping that when I get to colorize that area of the face, I will be able to make it look better. And no, I was not lying down while drawing it!

You're right, I did occasionally smear the pencil to smooth out some areas....I'm not sure if this is good practice or not, but there's only so smooth I can make the drawing using only the HB pencil I had on my desk at the time. I'll try and work on using faster strokes in my sketching in the future then, thanks for the tip.

I've just began painting the eye area and will probably move on to painting more of the face before too long, so I should have something worth showing fairly soon.

MastahUK

04-28-2005, 11:44 PM

Only a small update today I'm afraid. I completely reworked the eye on the left and the area surrounding it - I think this has fixed the distortion problem a little bit. I also repositioned the eyebrow to be a bit lower. Other than this, I made some minor alterations of the highlights and shadows so far......I would have accomplished more if not for the fact that my workflow is incredibly slow at the moment!

http://www.retina-designs.com/img/duang_oils_small1.jpg

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